Italian oil and gas company Eni has launched its first biofuel feedstock plant in the Republic of the Congo.
The initiative marked the beginning of industrial-scale vegetable oil production for biorefining in the country, the company said on 28 June.
Located in Loudima, in the central-southern part of Congo, the agri-hub had a processing capacity of 30,000 tonnes/year of vegetable oil and would be supplied by oil crops grown on degraded and under-utilised land or through intercropping systems, as part of a regenerative agriculture project developed in collaboration with local stakeholders, Eni said.
The agri-hub would also produce vegetable proteins for livestock feed, creating further development opportunities for the agri-food sector and contributing to food security.
The project would involve the use of around 200 new machines, half of which had been imported.
The initiative complemented the company’s other activities aimed at promoting the energy transition in Congo and was in line with its strategic path to achieving net zero emissions from its products and processes by 2050, Eni said.
According to its website, Eni is active in the natural gas and oil sectors, as well as the co-generated electricity and renewables sectors.
Headquartered in Rome, Eni operates in the domestic and international market, as well as through a wide range of subsidiaries and affiliates, including its biofuels arm Enilive.
Through Enilive, Eni is a leading hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) producer in Europe and globally and operates multi-fuel service stations and biorefineries in Italy and overseas.
